International Criminal Court gives Myanmar till July 27 to respond on Rohingya case

June 24, 2018 On Thursday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) gave Myanmar a deadline to respond to a request to extend their jurisdiction over the alleged crimes against the ethnic. In the meeting behind closed doors in The Hague, Netherlands, ICC judges decided to set the deadline on July 27.

Myanmar's military is accused of illegal deportation of the minority Muslim community, as well as committing sex crimes, burning people and villages and killing people belonging to the Rohingya ethnic group. The United Nations has called it "a textbook example of ethnic cleansing". Myanmar denies the accusations. Myanmar is not a member of the international tribunal and hence, ICC do not ordinarily have jurisdiction there.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people have been displaced from their home since August and nearly 700 thousand have settled in Bangladesh. Unlike Myanmar, Bangladesh is a member of the international tribunal where ICC does have jurisdiction.

In the decision, the ICC said, "Considering that the crime of deportation is alleged to have commenced on the territory of Myanmar, the chamber deems it appropriate to seek observations from the competent authorities of Myanmar on the prosecutor's request".